Wednesday, 31 July 2013

In between lots of design work and other essential things this week i found some time to play with some little linen stitched motifs and here are the results..................

............i began stitching on linen way back in the day when i first designed cross stitch samplers and wrote cross stitch books..........i always keep a stock of 28 count cashel linen in my stash for cross stitch projects and now i also make bunnies from this linen too..............my early books are still a useful resource for little cross stitch motifs to use in different ways...........like the cherries i stitched for this little pincushion, a gift for a cherry loving friend.......

.........i loved using up tiny scraps of sweet summery fabric that was lying on my cutting table for these quick little makes........

...............the vintage style kettle motif in this pincushion was stitched for a wall hanging in my simple sewn gifts book, but after i'd stitched it i decided i wanted it to have a heart in the centre, so i re-stitched it for the book and kept this one till now.........

.................i decided to add a word embellishment..............

....... i printed out this little one with rubber stamps and backed it with bondaweb and white fabric, sewed it round and cut it out to make a little label.................

...............this sunny little house was a design for a new home card originally...............

..............i liked the colours with this sweet lecien floral fabric.......i really love this particular fabric at the moment and though i only have a small amount left i'm adding it to lots of projects to keep on enjoying it.................

.............the sun has certainly been shining brightly here still over the last week....though we did have a huge deluge of rain which the garden was glad of...............it still felt hot afterwards and most unlike the usual uk style of weather.............we have enjoyed some lavender scones in the garden this weekend........

..............lovely sweetpeas, they are my new favourite now the roses have all but finished..........

..........the children have played lots of games in it and filled it up with toys..........daisy loves to ride about on her tricycle, always with some toys in the back (this time it was the sugar bunnies turn).....and in the basket on the front she puts special things like a bunch of sweet peas, or even her ice lolly if it becomes a bit cumbersome to hold it while cycling ;)................

..........we made some funny face ice lollies........and enjoyed some chilled water melon......i've been loving the summertime so much, even though i'm not great with high temperatures really and always have to seek out some shade to keep cool......

............thank you for popping into my little bit of blogland, it's wonderful to see you :) and thanks for the sweet comments and emails too..........i hope you have a happy summery crafty week with lots of bright and sunny times............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

It is still hot and amazingly summery here.....it doesn't feel like the uk most of the time......though we did have a rain shower yesterday which felt more usual, but then it became hot and sunny again......we live on the coast so are lucky to have some sea breezes to stop it being too humid......this week i gave the old rocking chair a fresh coat of white paint........

...........i was tidying up when i found the almost full tin of farrow and ball paint in *all white* so decided to use it and spruce up this chair......and then i finished off sewing the flower pots cushion too so here they both are..........

..........i showed the applique flower pots on my blog when i began them a while ago so i am pleased that this is another wip finished :).................

............the design was inspired by my lollipop flowers picture from my book here...........

..........adding the lovely striped cotton fabric borders makes the cushion seem very summery i think....i sewed on a tiny bluebird button near the top too......from just another button company... the back is my favourite envelope style in a red and white polka dot.................

........there are lots of flower pots filled with plants here at the moment, like this pretty busy lizzie............below are the petunias i planted weeks ago, flowering happily near the back door.....

............last weekend we visited some good friends of ours and spent some very happy time in their beautiful garden............the agapanthus pot below is huge and i remember my friend telling me, a few years ago, how she planned to plant a really big pot with lots of agapanthus, and there it is now looking amazing (i noted down the idea in my garden notebook too)........

............we ate outside under a vine-shaded pergola......delicious and summery food..............

............and i took lots of pictures of their wonderful kitchen garden filled with produce and looking gorgeous.........i love seeing fruit and vegetables growing and wandering around other peoples' gardens is one of my favourite things :).............

.........this week the little chickpeas.....that is my two grandchildren charlie and daisy.......have finished school and pre school for the summer....i will be looking after them for two afternoons a week which i am looking forward to.........yesterday was the first one and they played in the paddling pool, and later we made some puppets......they made up lots of their own games too and are so sweet and funny.........now it's back to my design work and this week it is.......christmas again :0.............thank you for popping in to see me even though this is such a busy time of year with so many distractions...........it's always lovely to see you and i love your sweet comments too.......wishing you all a happy summery week with lots of flowers, fruits and sunshine to enjoy.........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

The glorious sunny weather is still here.....all you want to do is gather the roses, sip cold drinks and maybe sew up a few hexies in the garden.....but real life goes on in spite of the heatwave, and in my studio it is all about christmas :0............not that i mind, not at all... i love designing for the festive season all year round, it is always so decorative and fun to do....i have been using some sparkly beads on my project today :)..................

.........i have been sewing up some hexies too...........i first learnt how to do english paper pieced patchwork (epp) as it is now called (we just used to call it patchwork then) when i was still a schoolgirl, and my crafty friend and i began making hexies one summer's day..............

...........the stripy hexagon pincushion and scissor keep are projects in my *pretty patchworks book* which you can find here..............

...........and so is this little hexagon quilt too............

...............i loved making this, using some small scraps of my favourite spotty, stripy and flowery fabrics and adding in some fussy cut hexagons from some cute japanese prints too................

................finished off with red and white spotty binding and a line of red quilt stitches..........

............and some red and white spotty buttons in the four corners.................

.............now the little hexagon quilt might well be cosying up some dollies and bunnies for a nice little sleep...........and i am making some new hexie flowers, sewing them in my spare moments......

.............and also making lots and lots of red and blue hexagons for a project i hope to take to the seaside with me next month............making up the hexies is surprisingly quick i think..........though when you make the flowers join up and have to do a lot of plain white ones......not so quick somehow ;)........

............so i have been surrounded by baskets this week.......some filled with christmas design work, one with my home sweet home quilt borders (nearly done now), one with hexie flowers, one with just hexies, one with crochet, one with washing dried on the line in the flowery garden.......

..........and lots of baskets with sweet roses, their big petals becoming blowsy and floppy in the hot hot sunshine..........i bring them in and give them a long cool drink and then put them in all kinds of containers....................

..............like my pretty birthday mug...........i will be sorry when the roses are over, they've been especially gorgeous this year and we have really enjoyed them.............our latest garden project is re doing our (leaky) pond, which mr p is working on right now...............we hope to fix it and then return it to its wildlife friendly state again in the autumn...........now it's time to water the plants, and then a bit more hand sewing i think..............thank you for visiting me here and thank you so much for your sweet comments too...........wishing you a very sweet week with happy days and lots of inspiring crafty times.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday, 10 July 2013

Summer time is certainly here and what a wonderfully sunny and warm week we've been having.... here is a little bright and summery sewing project i've been finishing off sitting in the shady/sunny garden.........a cherry patchwork potholder for my summer kitchen.............

...............the lovely fabrics are from the very talented lori holt's bake sale collection for riley blake and i couldn't wait to make something with them.................i bought them from here................loved making the hexies..............i want to do lots more hand sewing over the summer...........

.............and the fabrics are so sweet, especially the cherries on pink....and the recipe ones....and the lattice patterns........ and the kitchen utensils prints which look so pretty with some of my little kitchen cross stitch designs................the gingham edging is from another of my fabric favourites, pam kitty love :)...............

...........i will be showing more makes from these fabrics very soon................

..............there were lots of real cherries around this week....some delicious dark red ones from the greengrocer's and some small pretty ones dropping off our neighbour's ornamental cherry tree at just the right moment to be gathered up for my photoshoot................

..............the beautiful weather arrived just in time for my birthday....and thank you to everyone who left me such kind wishes for a happy day, you are all such lovely readers :).............we had a picnic in the country, a walk amongst beautiful rose gardens and afternoon tea there too.......and in the evening my daughter sarah and her hb and children came round with dinner for us and lovely presents.........

............ at the weekend we had more celebrations with all my dearies here.........thank you for your sweet wishes for my daughter rosie too...she had a lovely birthday as well, and got engaged on it!!....so our weekend was filled with romance, sunshine, blue sky, pimms, strawberries and cream, wonderful wimbledon tennis, meals and bbq's, family old and young........and lots of cake..................

...............some of my presents .......a rainbow of crochet hooks which are neatly enclosed in their own little stripy roll.........so looking forward to trying out the different sizes...........

..............a special jug with flowers from the garden, the nostalgic scent of the mock orange bringing back so many memories...........and below the sweetest little vintage inspired dog from northern primitives here........... so happy to have one of these little animals which i have long admired...............

................other lovely treats will be appearing in future posts :).................

...............the flowers have been blooming away too, glad not to be battered by the wind and rain at last..........these pink roses are from a lovely big old rambly bush near the bottom of the garden which has a lot more blooms this year.................i love to arrange them with some alchemilla mollis.......

............a quick picture of the cutting garden as the sweetpeas begin their scramble up the canes and lots of little flowers begin to open up in the warmth too............i don't know how long this weather is going to stay, but this little scorchio spell has been amazing :).............thank you again for your kind wishes, comments and emails................wishing you happy summer days and lovely crafty times......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

This is my new work- in- progress applique quilt...home sweet home.......or house and garden....i created this quilt design originally years ago when i was inspired by folk art and homespun subtle colours and the result with a very antique looking quilt............i still loved the idea and decided to make a new version.......

...........using the fresh floral shades that i love at the moment........

...........it already felt like a summer design to me especially after i added the big yellow applique sun shining in the sky..................there are borders with pieced squares and applique flowers and there will be a couple of fabric borders and then another pieced border round the outside edge.... a labour of love and one that will be fun to evolve..............the buttons are part of my crafty haul from our recent visit to manchester................

...........they remind me of summer flowers and i think i'll be adding some to the quilt when it is finished........the crochet is new too..........a blanket based on the colours of seaside rock......

......a granny stripe that is easy to work on while talking to family and friends or keeping an eye on the grandchildren.............

..........a big pile of flowery colourful fabrics ready to cut out the pieced border when i get a spare moment or two.........below is my summer flower garland from my pretty patchwork gifts book......

...........hanging on the dresser ready for a summer party this weekend.................

............because it's my birthday tomorrow :)...........and today is my daughter rosie's birthday......we will be having a joint celebration as we often do and so i will be filling up the vases with flowers and hanging up more bunting...............tidying up the house and garden and doing a bit of baking......

...........and if the weather forecast is correct we'll be able to enjoy the party in the garden too......... and here is a new spread in my garden journal.......one of the things i love to do is to visit private gardens when they open for charity, and a nearby village held its annual secret gardens day a week ago.........all the gardens were so well cared for, but there was one which especially appealed to me, like a small version of hidcote manor, with lots of rooms or sections.............i really loved it, so made some notes about it for future reference........the garden belonged to an old cottage dated 1683 and i rather loved that too....

...........in our own garden the plants are growing strongly after a nice shower or two of rain.....

............the cutting garden is full of plants in bud just waiting to open, and the roses are happily rambling up the walls and trellis...............

............this one grows on the back of the small garage which was built in the 1940's........the house is victorian and originally had a small stable for the pony :)................

...........this is one of my favourite rambling roses, the blooms look so crisp and smooth and have a delicious scent..........and in the bottom right picture are the very first sweet peas flowering.............
thank you for visiting me here in my little blog space, it's always a pleasure to see you and reading your sweet comments and emails makes my day................have a wonderful summery week, with flowers and crafts and whatever you enjoy......and happy july 4th to everyone celebrating!!!!........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

my new book

about me

I am a designer, author, illustrator, stitcher and I just love crafting and making things. I live on the North West coast of England with my lovely husband. My family mean the world to me - I have two amazing grown up daughters and three sweet grandchildren - two boys and a girl.